Mayor Filner "updates" Chamber board's oath of office

As Mayor Bob Filner administered the swearing in of S.D. Regional Chamber of Commerce board members at its annual dinner Wednesday, he took lighthearted leeway with the oath. He instructed them to solemnly swear not to sue the mayor of San Diego.

His comment, which drew chuckles, was an indirect reference to a lawsuit filed Friday by the local Tourism Marketing District against Filner and the city over his refusal to sign a long-term financing agreement endorsed by Mayor Jerry Sanders before Filner took office.

As luck had it, Joe Terzi, an ex-officio board member, couldn’t attend the swearing-in. He heads the S.D. Tourism Authority (formerly S.D. Convention and Visitors Bureau), which gets most of its funding — about $24 million last year — from the marketing district.

Cryptic message: Paul Dragos, an avid metal detecting hobbyist, regularly unearths lost rings and other treasures locally. But the find he made the other day wasn’t with a metal detector. While remodeling his La Jolla Colony condo, Dragos pulled up its old carpet. Staring at him was a handwritten message on the padding that began: “Dear Friend…” But years of wear had smeared the remainder of the message. Under the padding, however, he found a newspaper from Nov. 18, 1984, the year his condo was built. Apparently, whoever installed the rug had written a message to the unit’s future owners, with a newspaper to chronicle the events of the day.

March blizzard: The Midwest is being buried in snow this week, and San Diego is about to get some of its own. Tim and Ellen Zinn, co-chairs of The Timken Museum of Art’s “White Nights” soiree Friday, are importing the white stuff to create a wintry look outside the museum’s celebration of its new installation of Russian icons. “Our drifts will put theirs to shame,” promises Ellen, who also has lined up Cossack dancers, gypsy violins and Petrossian caviar.

Oscar postscript: Alana Lang, of Rancho Bernardo, was one of the 700 lucky fans picked in a drawing by the Academy to sit in seats lining the red carpet. She and a friend from Scotland were close enough to touch stars as they passed. Richard Gere strolled right down the line, shaking fans’ hands. George Clooney walked over and began signing autographs. Also especially friendly were Daniel Day Lewis, Catherine Zeta Jones, Michael Douglas and Hugh Jackman, said Lang. “We loved every single moment.”

Tommy Lee Jones at the Oscars with his wife, Dawn, sporting jewelry from a La Jolla store.

Tommy Lee Jones at the Oscars with his wife, Dawn, sporting jewelry from a La Jolla store.

La Jolla, the jewel: The gems loaned by Jim Lavi’s Daniel Jewelry store to actor Tommy Lee Jones’ wife for the Oscars have returned safely to his La Jolla shop with added cachet. She sported a 28-carat tennis bracelet, black diamond earrings and a diamond ring. All can be purchased for a mere $227,000. Harry Winston, watch out!